1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems, methods, and devices for treating the effects of menopause. Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods, and devices used while sleeping for automatically detecting an imminent hot flash and for preventing and/or controlling the symptoms associated with hot flashes, such as an elevated body temperature, sweating, and/or chills so that the person using the system remains sleeping and is not disturbed by the hot flash onset.
2. Description of Related Art
Vasomotor symptoms, including hot flashes and night sweats, are the most frequently reported symptoms of menopause. As many as three out of four women experience hot flashes during menopause, according to the Mayo Clinic. Hot flashes—as defined by The National Institute of Health (NIH)—are a sudden temporary onset of body warmth, flushing, and sweating.
Sufferers of menopausal hot flashes have experienced numerous, bothersome symptoms, including a feeling of mild warmth to intense heat spreading through the upper body and face; perspiration, mostly on the upper body; and a chilled feeling as the hot flash subsides. In response to a hot flash, a woman's heart rate and skin blood flow increase, but the internal body temperature may drop by as much as three or four degrees as the body struggles to correct the imbalance. Hot flashes, which typically subside within a couple of minutes, can sometimes last as long as thirty minutes. Especially bothersome, is that nighttime hot flashes (night sweats) can wake a person up from a sound sleep, or even bother a sleeping partner.
Hormone replacement therapy can provide relief for some sufferers of menopause and may help to reduce hot flash intensity and/or frequency. Changes in diet have also been recommended, in particular, to include more soy-based products in the diet. Lifestyle changes and chemical therapeutics, however, are not viable alternatives for some women.
There exist numerous ways of cooling a body. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,933, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes a conditioned-air suit to be worn over a user's entire body, including the head, which has several hose connections for delivering cool air as needed in response to certain environmental conditions. Such suits are restrictive and cumbersome and do not allow for a user to switch easily from being in the protected environment to an unprotected situation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,918, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, provides another type of cooling suit for a patient undergoing a medical procedure or for a patient with hypo- or hyperthermia. This suit is intended to be worn over the entire body, including the head, and suffers from the same disadvantages as just described.
A surgical drape is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,666, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The drape, similar to a dense blanket, can be configured to circulate a coolant through the drape and when contacting a patient's body will cause cooling to the body through conduction. A person using such a drape during sleep would find it restrictive and not soft and comfortable as compared to sheets and blankets that the user may have become accustomed to using. The drape also fails to provide a mechanism for wicking moisture away from the body, which may occur from hot flashes manifested as night sweats.
A fan-free blanket has also been proposed by U.S. Pat. No. 7,721,349, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The blanket comprises a water-absorbent side and a waterproof side. The blanket is positioned over a user with the waterproof side facing the person. With the water-absorbent side facing up and away from the body, a cool glass of water is poured onto the blanket. The body is then cooled by conduction and by the water evaporating into the air around the person to cool the air on the outside of the blanket. Such devices do not allow for the user to remain sleeping due to the user having to get up out of bed to obtain cold water and then pour the water on the blanket. This method also focuses on cooling air above the blanket rather than below where the user needs it most.
Even further, US Published Patent Application No. 2005/0251913, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and entitled “Portable Padded Air Flow Pouch,” provides another blanket-type solution to keeping a body cool. Exemplified in the published application is an air flow pouch for containing perforated tubing which comprises a net-type cloth material front to allow air to escape and an air resistant interior back to reflect air through the front of the pouch. Proposed uses of the pouch include storing the pouch under a pillow until menopausal symptoms arise, then positioning the pouch over the user's body, and turning the device on to allow air to flow out of the pouch and be distributed over the user's body.
A convective cooling type drape is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,099, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Instead of tubing inserted into the material of the drape to provide a structure for containing and/or directing the cool air, the drape is formed of multiple chambers for holding the circulating air. One side of the chamber includes multiple exhaust holes through which air is allowed to escape from the chamber and exit toward the person. The drape has additional openings between the chambers to allow for evaporative cooling of the person's body.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO/2010/093604, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and entitled, “Method for Treating Hot Flashes Associated with Menopause During Sleep,” describes a method and device for automatically detecting the onset of a hot flash while the subject is sleeping, and of cooling the subject using a cold fluid circulating through a vest or a mattress pad, before sweating and/or chills develop and awaken the subject. A temperature sensor is attached to the subject's skin, and is connected to a computer or microprocessor. The subject wears a vest that is connected to a coolant circulation system. Alternatively, the subject lies on a mattress pad that is connected to a coolant circulation system. During the night, if the subject's skin temperature is raised more than a predetermined amount within a specified time period, or rises above a predetermined threshold temperature, the coolant circulation system is activated for a fixed period of time. The cooled vest or pad helps to draw heat away from the subject's skin reduces the symptoms of hot flash.
The most common complaint of women suffering from night-time hot flashes is that the sufferer is woken up by the sudden body change. A major disadvantage of the existing body cooling technology is that the user still must wake up before applying the advantages of the body cooling systems, which does not solve this problem. If the systems were already activated while the person was sleeping, the person may become too cool for comfort.
What is needed is a system capable of providing comfort to a user during sleep and which is automatically activated to provide relief to the user without disturbing or requiring the user to wake before the system begins working.